Firing mechanism for ordnance.



No. 879,225. PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908.

' H. T. WHEELER.

FIRING MECHANISM FOR ORDNANOE.

v APPLICATION FILED AUG. 28, 1907.

I x E2 HARRY T. WHEELER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

FIRING MECHANISM FOR ORDNANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed August 28. 1907. Serial No. 390512- To all whom it mayconcern:

Be it known that I, HARRY T. WHEELER, a citizen of the United States,residing at INashington, in the District of Columbia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Firing Mechanism for Ordnance;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in firing mechanism for ordnance,and it is especially intended to provide certain improvements in thefiring mechanism shown in detail in my application Serial No. 365760,filed April 1st, 1907, and entitled. firing mechanism for ordnance.

According to that invention, the primer was placed in the chamberprovided in the mushroom stem, which chamber was closed by a slidingwedge, and the primer case could only be inserted or removed when thewedge was in the lowered position.

It is thought that possibly in practice the jars incident to theoperation of the mechanism described in the application aforesaid, mightcause the primer case to shake loose and to project in the wake of thesliding wedge, causing the mechanism to occasionally fail to operatesuccessfully. My present invention is intended to provide means forautomatically locking the primer case in position until the wedge israised.

My invention consists briefly, in providing an automatic latch whichholds the primer case in its chamber, but which latch is auto maticallytripped by the extractor in its movement outward for withdrawing theempty cartridge case, or inward when the fresh cartridge case isinserted, all of which will be more fully hereinafter described.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which the same partsare indicated by the same letters throughout the several views, and inwhich similar letters areused to indicate the same parts as thosealready used in my application aforesaid.

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the housing adapted to be attached tothe breechmechanism and shows the wedge in the lowered position, partsbeing broken away. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the deviceshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically the co-action of thelatch, primer case and, extractor. Fig. 4 is a detail showing the latchblock in rear elevation, and Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view of thedevice shown in Fig. 4.

B represents the stem of the mushroom which projects rearward throughthe breech block in the usual well known way, and which is provided withinterrupted ribs 1) adapted'to engage corresponding grooves, e in thesleeve, E, which is attached to or integral with the housing E. Thishousing is provided with a guideway E for the wedge F, and the upperpart of this guideway is spanned by the bridge E secured to the housingby bolts 6 This bridge is recessed, as at E and E to receive thespringimpressed latch X, which latch has guide grooves 05 to engage theguide rib e in the bridge, and also with a guide slot as, into whichprojects the holding pin 6, which prevents the latchfrom slipping out ofplace in the housing. The latch is normally pressed downwards by thespring X which projects into the hollow stem a of the latch, and thelatch has two wedge facesat and a, which terminate in the edge :0 beyondwhich projects the curved portion 90, which proj ects downwards beneaththe shoulder 90 and serves to prevent the cartridge case from slippingtoo far out of its chamber. P represents the extractor, whose operationis fully described in the application aforesaid. This extractor isrocked on the shaft P by the engagement of the arm P with the wedge F,as described in said application. This ex,- tractor is'preferablyU-shaped, and one of its arms P has two curved engaging faces, whichstrike the faces 00-x of the latch,

respectively, as the extractor is swung to the open or the closedposition.

It will be noted from an examination of Fig. 3 in which the extractor isshown in the closed position, that if the arm P be drawn downward to theposition indicated at 2 in dotted lines this arm P will strike the wedgeface 00 wedging the latch X upwards until the arm P passes the edge 50and when the extractor reaches the position shown in dotted lines at 3in Fig. 3, the latch will snap back to the initial position.

In loading the primer into the mechanism, the operator pushes theextractor from the position shown at 3 to the position shown at 1 inFig. 3, which causes the arm P to strike the wedged face at, pushing thelatchX u wards until the extractor passes, when t e latch will snap backto the initial position means for holding the primer in place while itis loaded in the breech mechanism, and at,

the same time which will permit the ready removal thereof when desired,and which will not interfere in any way with the action of the firingpin.

It will be obvious that various modifications might be made in theherein described device which could be used without departing from thespirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is 1. In a firing mechanism forbreech loading guns, the combination with a housing, a mushroom stemprovided with a primer chamber, an extractor pivoted in said housinghaving an arm adapted to engage the rim of the primer case and providedwith bearing faces, a wedge sliding in said housing, and operating saidextractor, a sliding latch normally screening a portion of the primerchamber, having oppositely inclined wedge faces automatically engagingthe said bearing faces on the extractor arm, a spring normally pressingsaid latch downward, guide grooves on said latch and guide ribs on thegun for engaging said grooves, substantially as described.

2. In:a firing mechanism for breech loading guns, the combination with ahousing, a mushroom stem provided with a primer chamber, an extractorpivoted in said housing having an arm adapted to engage the rim of theprimer case and provided with bearing faces, a wedge sliding in saidhousing and operating said extractor, a sliding spring pressed latchnormally screening a portion of the primer chamber having oppositelyinclined wedge faces adapted to automatically engage the said bearingfaces of the extractor arm, a bridge secured to the said housing andprovided with a recess to accommodate said spring and latch, said latchprovided with guide grooves, and a guide slot, and said bridge providedwith guide ribs engaging said grooves, and a holding pin engaging saidslot, substantially as specified.

3. In a firing mechanism for breech loading guns, the combination with ahousing, a mushroom stem provided with a rimer chamber, an extractorpivoted in sai housing, having an arm adapted to engage the rim of theprimer case, and provided with bearing faces, a wedge sliding in saidhousing and operating said extractor, a bridge secured to said housingand rovided with a recess, a latch having a ho low stem, sliding in saidrecess, a spring partly in said recess and partly in said hollow stemfor forcing said latch downward, said latch provided with guide groovesand said bridge provided with guide ribs engaging said grooves, and saidlatch also provided with a guide slot, and said bridge provided with aholding pin engaging said slot, substantially as described.

4. In a firing mechanism for breech loading guns, the combination of ahousing E, a mushroom stem B, revolubly mounted in said housing, andprovided with a rimer chamber, an extractor pivoted in sai( housing andhaving an arm engaging the rim of the primer case, and provided withbearing faces, a wedge sliding in said. housing and operating saidextractor, a latch X, normally screening a portion of the primerchamber, and provided with the inclined wedge faces a; and 00, adaptedto be struck by the bearing faces of said extractor, guide grooves 00and a guide slot x also on said latch, a bridge E secured to the housingby bolts 0 and, provided with a recess for receiving said latch, ahollow stem integral with said latch, a spring X, partly in said recessand partly in said hollow stem, for forcing said latch downward, guideribs 6 on said bridge for engaging said guide grooves 00 a holding pin 0for engaging said guide slot and holding said latch in position, an edge00 at the juncture of said wedge faces as and 9c, and a curved portion90, provided with a shoulder 00 projecting beyond said edge xsubstantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

HARRY T. WHEELER.

Witnesses:

SAML. D. COLE, W. R. ADAMs.

